Stoker



Sept. 11, 1945.

R. BEERS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 0 O Q I n I I I No 3 7 6 0K m o g Q O INVENTOR. ROYCE L. BEERS ATTORNEYS R. L. BEERS Sept. 11, 1945.

STOKER Filed 001;. 25, 1943 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 mvsivmn.

ROYCE L.BEERS 'WAZ'QZv/Y MAM ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 11, 1945 o t-men? STOKER? Royce L. Beers, Birmingham, .Michz, assigrlor to Detroit Stoker Company, Monro-a Mi'ch'z; a cor poration of Michigan Application October 25, 1943:,-.Serial'No.- 507 583 4 Claims:

The; invention. relates to .-stohers: of that. typ in. which the. fuel, is. first introduced and elevated i in, a retort and then. fedlaterally"therefrom'over grate bars. The present application constitutes a' continuation ini part-.of a pending: application for patentserial- No. 461,761,;.filedliOctober 12.1 1942..

With the typeof *stokerabove. referred to; it is customary to reciprocate certain-of .the grate bars to facilitate.- the; feeding of the fueL downward thereover- It is also customary-to. provide means at the.- lower ends. of said; grate; bars. for. disposing of .thezash: andin one constructionrthis is accomplished byarockablesegmental member spaced fromtheside wall: of ithe. furnace: The. rocking movement of this segmental memberis generally accomplished by 1 connecting. the: same to areciprocatory grate barsoithatthelamplitude of: reciprocatory movementoftsaid. grate bar determines the amplitude of. rocking movement of the. segmental member...

Itis the object of the instant invention to obtain a: construction in: whiclrthe;.reciprocatory movement of; the grate. .bars. and the rockingmovement of the. segmentalash; receiving member can, be. independently controlled.v This. is advane tageous. in. securing. complete "combustion; :of the fuel on the grate bars-andavoiding: the disposal of-anyunconsumed fuel with the ash; Thus, under certain conditions: itxis. desirable. to. leave the rocking segment: stationary during the continuedreciprocation I of the grate bars. At other times it. is desirableto. oscillateithe rockingmembers while.thereciprocatory' grate bars are-stationary. Again it may be desirable to. simultaneouslymove the reciprocating barsand the rocking. members but with different; degrees of. movement. My invention, therefore, consists. in. the construction for-accomplishing; such operations as. hereinafter set forth.

Inthe drawings:

Fig. 1 is. a cross'section through a stoker to which my improvements. are applied Fig. 2 isaside. elevation. of the. mechanism for actuating the movablemembers of the: grate from the fuel feed mechanism;

Fig; 3 is a crosssection; on line. 3'-3, Fig. 2;

Fig.4 is a cross section. on'line Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 ice .frontelevation of the adjustable mechanism for rocking the segmental ash receiving members;

Fig. 6 is a cross section on line 66, Fig. 5; and

Fig. Tisa horizontal section on line 'I1, Fig, 3.

As shown in Fig. 1, the retort A extends longitudinally in the center of the furnace and is providedwitkthe .usimlieed .(not shown) which: ad.- vancesand. elevatemthe fuel therein-.; Band. B are grate-bars extending laterally on opposite sides of the iretort being supported .at their, inner .endeorta-hange'Af of the retort and attheir.

outeraends upon: channel'beamsC and C. The inner; ends of these.bars also constituteaupper wallaportions of the: retort. The specific con.- struction of these bars andthe mechanismfonrevciprocating .;the.-sameare fully described -.-in; the

parent: application forpatent. above referred: to but will be-only' generally described in thegpresent application; vThus, thegrate bars in alignment with each-.othenon: opposite sides of the .retort are connected to move together simultaneously in the. same direction during each phase of; the reciprocation. Rock shafts Fand F extending longitudinallyon: opposite sides of the: retort are connected: to actuate thebars, such connect-ion comprising rock arms GancLG' on the respective shafts, rodsI-Iextendingbeneath the retort and connecting-+saidarms and; fingers G projecting upward from the arms. and engaging recesses in the-lowerportions of the bars B and B. Alternategroups ofgra-tebars are reciprocated in opposite directions-and are actuated respectively loy the-rock. shafts G and G" which simultaneously rock in oppositedirections; Thus, only one of the roclnar nris;and-1G connected to each-other by the red H such... forninstance, as the arm G is secured to its shaft, theother being free torotateon itgshaft;

theshaft F.:

Atatheouter andtlower ends ofthe grate bar are segmental'rockergrate sections I and I which receivethe ashand feed it downward: intopits therebeneathe The rocking of-these segmental gratesiseffectedby a mechanism which will'be,

hereinafter-described.

The-mechanism for actuating the shaftsv F and- F- isaillustrated inFigs; 2 'and 3 and is arranged is.-connect ed: by a. crossishaft L a member L hav'ingzinternalihelical grooves therein engaging corresponding helical fi'anges'Mof a rotary shaft 'Asshown; the shaftlvi is journaled in a frame T forming a part of the stroker frame. The member L includes a hub portion L engag- For. actuating an adjacent grouping of grate bars, the arm G'- i secured. to the shaft F, the arm G being free to rotateon 1 ing theshaft L, a body portion L and a cap portion L secured to each other by bolts L", L

and L Thus, during the reciprocation of the ram the movement of the member L therewith a lost motion coupling connection with a head;

N on one of the rocker shafts F, F. A similar mechanism is arranged upon the opposite side of the ram, but with the helix thereof. oppositely sloped, so that the rocking movement-simultaneously imparted to the shafts F and F is in opposite directions. The lost motion connection between the members N and N is preferably formed by a lug N on the latter, projecting be tweena pair of spaced lugs N"- on the member N. There is also an adjustable screw Nf engaging a correspondingly threaded bearing in the lug N and projecting therefrom to bear against one of the lugs N When the screwis completely retracted, the free angular movement of the lug N is equal to the full angular movement of the member N, so that no motion is communicated to the member N. On the other hand, where the screw N is fully'projected, it'will take up all of the lost motion,'so that both members N and N will have an equal amplitude of movement. It will, therefore, be understood that the angular movement of the shafts F and F may be varied between zero' and the full angular movement of the members Mand N.

Foractuating the rocker grates I and I, each of the members N is provided with a crank pin N which engages a connecting rod 0 leading to a rock arm P on a polygonal rock shaft Q. On this rock shaft are sleeved upwardly extending rock arms Q having rounded portions at their upper ends engaging segmental bearingsQ 'in the segmental rocker grates I and I. These segmental rocker grates are connected at their lower ends to links R which extend at such an angle to the links Q as to impart a substantially vertical movement to the outer ends of the grate during the substantially horizontal movement of the inner ends thereof. Tuyre members S projecting outward from the furnace wall S extend in proximity to the outer ends of the rocker grates I, leaving only a comparatively narrow space therebetween through which the ash is discharged. a

With the construction just described, the rocking movement of the member N is transmitted through the connecting rod 0 to the rock arm P which, by rocking the shaft Q, imparts a rocking or oscillatory movement to the grates I or I. As the radial length of the rock arm P is substantially equal to that of the crank pin N the amplitude of angular movement of the grate will cor respond to that on themembers M and N. I have, however, provided a lost motion connection by forming the rod 0 in two sections 0 and 0 which have a telescopic engagement with each other. The outer section 0' has slots 0 in the opposite walls thereof, while the inner section is provided with a series of apertures O with which a coupling pin 0 is alternatively engaged. The arrangement is such that by changing the pin .0 from one aperture to another, the amount of lost motion may be varied from zero to that equal to' the full movement of the member 0'. This permits of imparting any desired amount of movement to the rocker grates I and I up to the full angular movement of the member N, or, if desired, said rocker grates may be allowed to remain stationary. Thus, the amplitude of movement of the rockable grates may be varied with respect to the amplitude of the reciprocated grate members.

What I claim as my invention is:

I 11. In a stoker the combination with a retort I and a reciprocatory ram for feeding fuel therein,

of a rock shaft adjacent to said ram, a member connected to andmovable with said ram having a helical engagement with said rock shaft to impart an oscillatory movement to the latter, and a grate member actuated by said rock shaft.

2; In a stoker the combination with a retort andareciprocatory ram for feeding fuel therein, of a rock shaft adjacent to said ram, a member connected to and'movable'with said ram having a helical-engagement with said'rock shaft to impart an oscillatory movement to the latter, a grate bar extending laterally from said retort, a rock shaft for reciprocating said grate bar arranged in axial alignment with the aforesaid rock shaft and an adjustable lost motion connection between said rock shafts for varying the amplitude of reciprocatory movement of said grate bar.

3; In a stoker the combination with a retort, a

reciprocatory grate bar extending laterally therefrom, an ash discharge member at the outer end of said reciprocatory grate bar and a reciproca- I toryram for feeding fuel into said retort, of a shaft adjacent to said ram, a member connectedand movable with said ram having a helical engagement with said shaft to impart an oscillatory movement thereto, a rock'shaft for reciprocating said grate bar arranged in axial alignment with the aforesaid shaft, an adjustable lost motion connection between said shafts for varying the amplitude of movement of said grate bar, a crank connected to said first shaft, a rod connecting said crank with said ash discharge member to impart movement to the latter and a lost motion coupling in said rod adjustable to vary the movement imparted to the ash discharge member,

4."In a stoker the combination with a retort, grate barsextending laterally therefrom, a rockable ash discharge member at the outer ends of said grate bars and a reciprocatory ram for feed ing-fuel into said retort, of actuating mechanism for;said grate bars and ash discharge member comprising a shaft arranged adjacent to said ram having a flange extending helically thereabout, a

member connected to and movable with said ram embracing said shaft and having a helical groove for engaging said flange to impart an oscillatory movement to said shaft,'a rock shaft beneath said grate bars having connection with certain of said bars to actuate the same, said rock shaft being in axial alignment with the aforesaid shaft, flanges secured to the adjacent ends of said shafts, a lug projecting from one of said flanges between a pair of lugs on the other flange forming a lost motion connection therebetween, and'an' adjustable screw engaging one of said lugs for varying the lost motion between the same and the cooperating lug whereby the amplitude of reciprocatory movement imparted to said be varied.

ROYCE BEERS.

grate bars may i 

